The 2023 ODI Cricket World Cup is approaching its conclusion, with the final round of group fixtures being played. I did not witness a single ball of either Tuesday’s or Thursday’s games because of work commitments, and England’s performance on Wednesday while impressive in isolation merely applied an unwarranted late gloss to what has been an appalling tournament for them. Today’s match was between Afghanistan and South Africa. South Africa are already qualified for the semi-finals, where their opponents will be Australia. Afghanistan had the slenderest of chances of taking the fourth slot going into today (slenderer by far than the threads holding the mythical sword above Damocles).
THE AFGHANISTAN INNINGS
To overhaul current fourth placers New Zealand on net RR Afghanistan needed a record breaking win – they would have to bat first, and would need win by at least 438 runs. They won the toss and chose to bat (no one in their right minds puts this South Africa side into bat even if it is not absolutely mandated by the group situation, do they Jos?). Unfortunately, this was not a pitch for heavy scoring, and it was soon apparent that Afghanistan were not going to score enough to give themselves any chance of qualifying. In the end the main question as their innings headed to towards the end of the scheduled 50 overs was as to whether Azmatullah Omarzai, of whom more later, would manage to complete a century. When he found himself facing the bowling, on 97 not out with three balls to come it looked on, but it was not to be. He failed to score off any of the three deliveries, and the number 11 was run out of the final ball of the innings. Afghanistan had scored 244 from 50 overs, with Gerald Coetzee, a fiery and talented young fast bowler, taking 4-44, and Keshav Maharaj achieving a notably economical analysis with 2-25 from his full 10 overs of left arm spin.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPLY
There were times in the innings when it looked like Afghanistan might be signing off with a victory – South Africa never got right away from them. Rashid Khan had 2-37 from 10 overs of leg spin, the veteran Mohammad Nabi topped him with 2-35 from 10 overs of off spin in what may well be the last world cup innings in which he features as a player. Nabi has an extraordinary playing history, having been part of the Afghanistan men’s side for their entire history as a cricketing nation, and having played his part in victories over no fewer than 43 different opposing countries. The least impressive of Afghanistan’s four front line spinners was Mujeeb Ur Rahman, with 1-51 from his 10 overs. He seems to feel an obligation to showcase his variations by bowling six different types of delivery per over, a strategy that in T20s can work very well, but in longer formats he would be better served by bowling his stock ball four or five times in an over and slipping in the variations every so often as a surprise. Andile Phehlukwayo eventually finished things in the 48th over when he hit left arm seamer Naveen-ul-Haq for 6,4,6 in successive balls to get his side over the line. Afghanistan are thus sixth in the group, which is the lowest they can finish. Tomorrow sees Pakistan in action against England. If Pakistan can conjure a win by 287 or more runs they will pip New Zealand to the final qualifying slot, while if they suffer a heavy defeat in going for the huge win they need they might drop below Afghanistan in the standings. The scorecard of today’s match is available here.
Azmatullah Omarzai
The young Afghan all rounder (RHB, RMF) has had an excellent tournament, and I regretted that he missed out on his century today, though of course that particular tally only has significance because we use base 10. I am sufficiently convinced by what he has done this tournament that although I usually base my judgements for such things on long form cricket I am prepared to change my all time Os XI – he displaces Irish seam bowling all rounder of yesteryear Alec O’Riordan from the number six slot in that XI. He has been one of the finds of this tournament as an individual, just as teams wise his team have been THE find of the tournament.
PHOTOGRAPHS
The results of the West Norfolk Autism Group autumn photography competition are in, and I won a £10 Amazon gift voucher for this picture:
When I took this picture on October 10th this autumnal leaf on which you can see both a snail with a very dark shell and much lighter coloured slug was still attached to it’s branch, though clearly almost ready to fall. I got a second picture out of this shot, focussing more closely on the snail.
Now for my usual sign off – some photographs from the last few days (to view any of these at a larger size just click on them)…
aspiblog 